text:
It's officially announced, Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin is John McCain's VP choice.
No matter who wins the election, history will be made. We'll either have the first woman VP or the first African American president.
Pretty neat, huh?
Yeah, I'm not all that impressed either, but Palin seems like a pretty cool governor. Then again, I really don't know much about her other than she's the mother of 5.
I think it's a nice tactic on McCain's part to pick her. Now he can say "We can have a potential first too!" (I imagine him sticking out his tongue and taunting Obama playground-style.) And, at 44, she's even younger than Obama who is 47.
She's a surprising choice, but a good strategic one. Maybe she'll bring a little youthful energy into the McCain Campaign Train.
Friday, August 29, 2008
Historical, any way you slice it.
It's officially announced, Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin is John McCain's VP choice.
Posted by MoxieMamaKC at 10:54 AM 1 comments
where would I rather be?
Lots of stuff is going on this Labor Day weekend in KC. The Irish Fest, the Renaissance Fair, Santa Caligon Days (White Trash Fest! One of my favs!), and probably tons of other exciting stuff.
Where will Moxie be?
In the middle of nowhere. Literally.
We're going down to Handsome's family compound which is located in the rural abyss between Columbia and St. Louis. When people say they live in the country and they mean outside of Grain Valley, I laugh. Handsome's family has owned 80 acres 25 minutes outside of Hermann for over 100 years.
And it's country. Like you have to drive about 3 miles on a semi-gravelled dirt road to reach their house which is at the end of said road. They live in a holler. It took me about 3 years to fully understand the geographic phenomenon that is a holler (or hollow, if you're a city slicker).
It's beautiful. Full of woods, a stream, a pond, fields, hills. Wild animals too, probably, but all I've seen is deer, possums, owls and an occasional cow.
But your cell phone doesn't work there. They don't have cable, they don't have internet. They have well water pumped into the house. I have no idea how they even have electricity/phone line.
Mama'll be off the civilization grid until Sunday night, kids. And she's not really excited.
We're making the 3.5 hour voyage tonight with a fussy 4 yr old and two fussy Handsome siblings. Jealous much? I thought so.
What makes this extra-special-fun is the fact we're going down to celebrate his (by marriage) uncle's 50th birthday. I've never in 12 years seen Uncle Alkie sober. Ever. He's touchy/feely, over-friendly and he always reeks of alcohol.
I just can't wait. Hope you've got better plans than I do.
Posted by MoxieMamaKC at 10:03 AM 0 comments
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Funeral Songs....
Ok, morbid, I know...but, when you pass away, what are the song/s that you would want you loved ones to play? The ones that explain you as your life was lived?
Here's my two:
John Denver, "Eagles and Horses". No song explains me more than this one....
or this;
Posted by MoxieMamaKC at 9:54 PM 2 comments
My Jarvis/Common People Post
So, I just told you "Different Class" by Pulp was one of my all time favorite albums. Jarvis Cocker? I love him so much I'd ALMOST leave my hubby for him. (He knows this, accepts it, but won't let us name one of our children Jarvis Cocker *Moxie* since he's afraid our kid would get beat up on the playground. He's probably right.)
Here's a taste of who I was.
I "remade" this video as a project in one of my video classes in college. I'll have to say...My video kicks the ass of the "real" Jarvis video as my video stars Handsome and my erstwhile roommate who is now a big actress in Chicago. But enjoy my Jarvis love anyway
Posted by MoxieMamaKC at 8:22 PM 0 comments
Sophomore Memories...
This week is the week school started. As in the college I graduated from...Handsome's 2 youngest siblings started back this week. Is it bad to say I'm kind of jealous of those tumultuous times (in some ways)? His youngest brother, Spoiled (because he IS) is a sophomore.
Upon realizing this, my mind wandered back to August 1996. The first few weeks of my own sophomore year.
It was one of those years for me that changed my life forever, irrevocably. So much shit happened in one condensed 8 week period for me.
I walked out of my parents' house forever against their wishes.
I did shit that I shouldn't have to forget things that shouldn't have happened.
I was date raped.
I was utterly on my own for the first time ever.
I was scared.
I was alive.
For the first time.
I met Handsome, my salvation from pain.
He shouldn't have been.
He deserved better than that.
I learned what unconditional, instantaneous love was.
I started to figure out who I was.
I was given support in fighting life-long demons.
The soundtrack for this time in my life was Pulp's "Different Class" CD.
I've never been the same.
That time in my life could never be repeated.
It was horrible and it was glorious.
All at the same time...
The best of times AND the worst of times.
Posted by MoxieMamaKC at 7:36 PM 1 comments
This week is in a vacuum
That is to say in the venacular, it sucks. I've had to be at work at 6:45 the last few days and since Tuesday, I've been thinking that it was really Thursday. Now that it is indeed Thursday, I wish it was Friday.
It's been a long, tedious week, and it ain't over yet, kids.
On the bright side, I went to lunch at Max's Autodiner on Wornall. Thanks, DLC for the reminder to visit locally-owned eateries.
Best. damn. seasoned. curly. fries. And I mean that.
Excellent burgers too. I'm completely stuffed. I'm never eating again. Plus, with the gentle purr (roaring, exhaust-emitting purr) of the traffic on Wornall a few feet away from your table to aid in the outside dining ambiance, how can I not be in a good mood?
I'm going to have a "Mommy Has a Headache" night and let Darling play with Daddy until she goes to bed and he has to go be advice counselor to his younger (and currently troubled) brother, Savior. I can sum up the entire advice he needs into one simple paragraph: "Shut the hell up, pull your head out of your ass and get on with it. You're pissing your 20's away and you're not happy. Quit whining, being a pussy and stand up for yourself." (Really, I should do this professionally, don'tcha think?)
Getting up too early is not helping my intense current bout of insomnia.
Maybe I'll go swimming.
I guess I'm just too full and too fussy right now. Please pardon the bitching.
Posted by MoxieMamaKC at 1:29 PM 1 comments
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
True Love and a Lost Art
It was love at first sight.
True love.
Ok, well, maybe just intense, passionate desire to possess the object of my affection.
I was 13.
It was at a old folk's home garage sale.
Nothing would stand in my way.
I reached out across the abyss that separated us and wistfully, tenderly stroked it.
It was a match made in heaven and I was ready to do anything it took to be together forever.
My mother was even supportive.
She recognized the fire in my eye and turned to the gentleman to ask how much it would cost to make her daughter's dreams come true.
Twenty dollars of my hard earned baby sitting money. I would have paid triple.
The object of my affection? A 1920's #10 Underwood typewriter in perfect condition.
It was like something out of "Needful Things". Even the old guy.
The elderly gentleman who owned it seemed a little hesitant to let it go. He asked me why a kid like me would want something like an old typewriter. I told him about how I wanted to be a writer, maybe a journalist (blogger fore-shadowing?) when I grew up and I had always like antique things.
His face beamed from ear to ear and I'll never forget his words:
"Well, I've found the right person then. My father used this when he wrote for The Star back in the '20's. Kept it all those years and I didn't have the heart to get rid of it until now. (This was about 1990ish) I didn't want it to go to just anyone. I think he'd approve."
He ended up just giving it to me. He wouldn't take any money. He just told me to become the next Hemmingway. (oopps.) Apparently, his dad wrote classified ad copy for The Kansas City Star. I'm pretty sure he told the truth, because on the side of my typewriter, in white paint is "MKTS".
And thus started a lifetime love affair. I learned to type on that typewriter and by the time I reached my freshman typing class, I could type circles around everyone else.
Over the years, I've collected about 12 typewriters ranging from 1885-1940 (nothing younger than that).
I'm picky about my typewriters. They have to speak to me. They have to be in perfect working order and none of them date post-WWII. When you collect something like typewriters, everybody's got a rusting piece of shit in their basement they want to pawn off on you.
I've got some favorites:
My #1 Remington Rand Portable (complete with case)
My LC Smith Bros. #8
I've even got a few Royals that are pretty awesome.
But, you always remember your first, don't you?
Typing on a pre-1960's manual typewriter is actually pretty strenuous. Typewriters were originally designed for male secretaries who naturally had stronger fingers. Typing on them is a lost art, considering the tippy, tap ease we have today of ergonomic computer keyboards.
I've been thinking a lot about typewriters this week. With the layoffs at The Star this week, unlike others, who cheer on the demise of the "dead tree media", I'm saddened to think not only of people losing their jobs, but the fact that someday I may not be able to curl up on the couch with the Sunday paper, some coffee, my husband, cats and while away an hour or so.
It's just not the same with a laptop...
Maybe there's still a streak of journalist wannabe in me, one I haven't really fed since my days as editor of my college newspaper. Maybe it's because I just got done reading The Bonfire of the Vanities (so good!)but it's kind of sad that the "hey-day" of busy newsrooms of major newspapers is coming to an end. Bonfire, written in 1987 reminds me that only 20 years ago no one could foresee the coming of the Internet and it's power on the news. I wouldn't even have a blog 7 years ago.
Strange. I feel like getting out my harmonica, channeling my inner Bob Dylan and singing some "Times, They Are A' Changin'"
There is hope for the future though. Darling, out of the blue, asked me the other day if she could play with my keyboards.
Not knowing what she meant, I asked her to show me. She led me by the hand over to the secretary/desks that I keep my typewriters on and pointed to them with big eyes.
I saw the gleam in her eye when I smiled and told her yes.
Are passions hereditary?
*all typewriters shown are not my actual typewriters, but pictures of the ones I have. FYI...
Posted by MoxieMamaKC at 12:14 PM 9 comments
Moxie (or You) 4 Prez!
A co-worker forwarded this to me. It pretty much kicks ass. (Isn't viral marketing glorious?)
This is possibly the coolest thing on the Internet right now.
I expect to be bested by Midtown Miscreant. And rightfully so, I might add, as I myself would vote for him, but it never hurts to throw your hat in the ring.
Go ahead, type your own name in and feed your ego!
Posted by MoxieMamaKC at 11:32 AM 0 comments
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Not My Fantasy, Boys
It's that time of year again.
Happy Fantasy Football Drafting Time, kids.
I'm not a big football fan. I went to my first Chiefs game last December, courtesy of one of my radio ad reps (alike I was going to spend that much of my own money to see something I could potentially hate).
I spent most of the game huddled in their suite, shivering, watching the game on tv. I only ventured outside to the actual seats a couple of times and only until I couldn't feel my feet anymore. Needless to say, I was less than really super impressed, but I was trying to figure out what the big deal is with football.
I'm a sporty kind of gal. Baseball/softball, swimming, diving, soccer, volleyball, tennis...Hell, I even love hockey. I'll play/watch pretty much everything.
But I just don't like football. It's boring to me and I just don't like it. (Except the Superbowl which is like the Oscars of the advertising world.)
Even more perplexing to me is Fantasy Football. I don't even begin to try to understand it. All I know is that it has invaded my work and home life.
In an effort of team-building (male bonding), my work has a Fantasy Football League. I designed the logo, and other miscellaneous signs, trophies, etc. but refuse to play. I didn't mind doing that work, but I'm tired of it being the only talk in the hallways.
Last night it was even worse. Handsome's workplace also has a FF League. Yesterday was Draft Day. As we were driving home from picking up Darling from daycare, he was on the phone talking about his picks. When we got home, he bee-lined for his Man Cave/laptop and Darling and I ended up kicking back, watching some Noggin while "Daddy played his game."
Handsome emerged a little later and we had a perfectly lovely evening. I guess the pressure is on, since he was first in his league last year. I can't wait to start tuning out/acting really interested/being supportive of his imaginary showmanship on Sundays/Mondays when he starts talking about his standings in his League.
Is it February yet?
Posted by MoxieMamaKC at 11:16 AM 2 comments
Monday, August 25, 2008
Bully Cat
So, Darling got an orange and white tabby striped kitten (well, he's 6 months old) for her 4th birthday.
She loves him.
He loves her.
He likes to pounce, but likes to sleep on her bed.
He uses the litter box.
He's cute, but a bit on the crazy hyper side.
He's a great cat for a little kid.
Only problem? He's a bully! A tyrrancial brute!
Our other cat, 7 year old Fraidy is in torment. Bully attacks him, scratches him, bitch slaps him when Fraidy tries to eat from the communal cat dish.
It was so bad that I was in tears Saturday night when Bully was gnawing on Fraidy's ears and he was crying, but not fighting back.
Handsome says Fraidy will get fed up and stop being a pussy (cat) soon, but it's really upsetting me.
Fraidy has always been my baby, before I got married, before I had Darling. Yes, I know he's a wimp, but he's my kitty. He looks upon me as a Goddess.
Now the poor baby is probably wondering what he did to deserve my Wrath.
sigh...if only he would have let Darling pet him once in awhile, he would still be an only kitty.
Handsome's getting irritated with the kitten antics. You know, the table jumping, the mad dashes through the living room, etc.
Now, the only one who's happy is Darling who can finally say she has a pet that adores her and likes to be pet.
See what happens when I try to make everybody happy (because that's my job. It's what I try to "do"). I'm doing a horrible job...
Posted by MoxieMamaKC at 10:54 AM 4 comments
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Gloria Squitiro vs. Mary Todd Lincoln...let's compare
I've kept my mouth shut about the mayor's wife for FAR too long. Let's play a little comparison game, shall we, kids?
Gloria: married to a tall man (6'8")
Mary: married to a tall man (6'4")
Gloria: loud-mouthed and controversial
Mary: loud-mouthed and controversial
Gloria: Into questionable occult practices
Mary: Into questionable occult practices
Gloria: "Supportive Spouse"
Mary: "Supportive Spouse"
Gloria: Subject to public scorn
Mary: Subject to public scorn
Gloria: Likes to call African American women "Mammy"
Mary: Likes to call African American women "Mammy"
If you've never read "The Emancipator's Wife" you should.
It is a very historically accurate fictionalization into the life of Mary Todd Lincoln, one of the most fascinating First Ladies (including Dolly Madison, Eleanor Roosevelt, Mamie Eisenhower and Jackie Kennedy.) It even postulates she was an opium addict and she tricked Lincoln into marrying her by lying about being pregnant. As an historian, I looked at the dates of marriage/birth, the mores of the times and, well, it's feasible.
Here's my unadulterated two cents on Gloria S.:
I gladly voted for Mark Funkhouser.
I liked his "honesty".
It was a very hard decision for me since I've met Alvin Brooks and have never been so swept over by someone's genuine goodness. Twice. You can't fake that kinda stuff. He's genuine, honest and incredible.
I voted for Funk because he was younger and seemed like a "Give Em Hell, Harry" kind of politician.
I never imagined this.
Or this.
Or even this.
Don't get me wrong. I like going barefoot as much as the next gal, but I would NEVER assume to do so in City Hall if my husband was the Mayor.
I adore my hubby. I'm the most supportive Theatre Widow ever (well, friends that are abandoned spouses like me are going to make t-shirts that say "Supportive Theatre Widow" and wear them to the shows, but whatev!)
I would never show up at my hubby's place of employment barefoot and expecting to be a prima donna volunteer.
I would never ever accept him doing the same to me.
I would never ever put myself into an ELECTED position that would assume my spouse was just as important as me. I was voted in, not him.
I would never show up at his work/theater rehearsal and demand a say in the creative process.
I wouldn't tolerate him telling me how to run my next ad campaign or giving me a history lecture.
I'm good at history and advertising. He's good at computers and theatre.
We don't cross our professional paths, but we are the other's biggest advocate.
I'll never say a wife should stay home where she belongs, but Gloria DOES NOT belong in KC City Hall.
(That's a Period AND Exclamation Point!)
I would never threaten to break the law over my spouse's VOLUNTEER STATUS!!!!!!!
Gloria, they chose the Funk to do the work, not you. Stop being so paranoid to let him out of your sight (trust me girl, NO ONE's going after him) and get back to being a Douala where your talents can possibly be appreciated.
Funk, get your ass in gear. Fix the KCMO School District, Light Rail (I'm sick of that shit) and let's get going. Your wife is a distraction and this controversy is too.
Thank you.
Posted by MoxieMamaKC at 7:44 PM 7 comments
The Political Buddy Intrigue is Getting to me. HELP!
So, I've been ignoring politics for a bit this last couple of weeks (I've needed a break.)
I'm 50/50 split between Obama and McCain. I'm equally apathetic to both.
PLEASE, will someone answer this question:
Honestly speaking, McCain is a one-termer at best due to his age. I'm more concerned with who's the back up plan for him rather than Obama.
Is the swarming media attention because of the upcoming DNC or the fact Obama's got more media appeal?
Or is it something else?
Whadda ya think?
Posted by MoxieMamaKC at 7:14 PM 5 comments
Sure you can drop out of school for Chik-Fil-A Combo Meals
It's stories like these that make me feel like there IS hope for my parenting skilz. My favorite line:
But this is not all fun and games. Blakes hopes to turn his gaming abilities into a lucrative career. Players signed by Major League Gaming (no, I'm not making this up) earn as much as $80,000 a year competing in tournaments.
So far, Blake has won around $1,000—but that money came in the form of gift certificates, gaming equipment, and Chick Fil-A combo meals. He hopes to start bringing in some actual cash after his father takes him to the U.S. regionals of the World Cyber Games.
Posted by MoxieMamaKC at 7:10 PM 0 comments
Let's play good choice, bad choice
Ok, so nobody's ALWAYS a perfect parent.
Good Choice:
Spending quality Mommy/Daughter time after I got home last night from going out to dinner with a friend. Darling reminded me that I PROMISED to paint her toenails FOREVER AGO!
What's better bonding than girlie pedicures? Sounds like a great time, right?
Bad Choice:
Trying to paint an excited 4 year old's toes in the bathroom with "Toepaint for Big Girls" (mine) instead of going into her room and digging around for the "Kiddie Toepaint That Peels Off Easily".
Here's what went down:
After repeatedly telling Darling to sit very, very still and not wiggle her toes, New Birthday Kitten comes in, pounces her feet as I'm painting the last baby toe. Darling freaks out at the attack, starts running, knocks over the "Toepaint for Big Girls". There's paint on the mostly white cat, there's red paint on the mostly white bathroom floor and a trail on the hardwood floors. Oh yeah, and there's paint on the couch as she dives for Daddy. And paint in Daddy's leg hair.
It was a nail polish blood bath.
Next time I'll use the Kiddie polish and shut the bathroom door.
Posted by MoxieMamaKC at 10:00 AM 7 comments
Because it's a cold and dismal August day...
During my teenage angst filled years I totally dug poetry and angst and Edna St. Vincent Millay go together like ham and cheese.
It's kind of a crappy day outside, so let me depress you even more....
One of my favorites from her...
If Still Your Orchards Bear
Brother, that breathe the August air
Ten thousand years from now,
And smell --- if still your orchards bear
Tart apples on the bough ---
The early windfall under the tree,
And see the red fruit shine,
I cannot think your thoughts will be
Much different from mine.
Should at that moment the full moon
Step forth upon the hill,
And memories hard to bear,
By moonlight harder still,
Form in the shadows of the trees, ---
Things that you could not spare
And live, or so you thought, yet these
Are gone, and you still there,
A man no longer what he was,
Nor yet the thing he'd planned,
The chilly apple from the grass
Warmed by your living hand ---
I think you will have need of tears;
I think they will not flow;
Suppposing in ten thousand years
Men ache, as they do now.
Posted by MoxieMamaKC at 9:33 AM 1 comments
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Bigfoot Still Doesn't Exist?!
Bummer. Turns out the "DNA" of the alleged Bigfoot is really human and possum.
Seriously...Possum? If you're going to fake something like that you'd think they'd use a bit more imagination to secure their spot on the next episode of America's Dumbest Criminals.
I was wondering how this BS was going to play out. Let the crackpipe conspiracy theories commence on how the government really stole the real DNA to disprove it's existance.
I love me some conspiracies.
Posted by MoxieMamaKC at 12:44 PM 4 comments
Love Blooms on Sesame Street
I don't know why, but this just strikes me as a little amusing and a little disturbing. Even more disturbing is the IM banter I just had with my husband:
MOXIE says:
Not sure why, but this slightly disturbs me... http://babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/2008/08/20/love-blooms-on-quot-sesame-street-quot.aspx
HANDSOME says:
that is a bit disturbing
MOXIE says:
Love blooming on Sesame Street...Snuffy and writer, sittin' in a tree, k i s s i n g....weird.
HANDSOME says:
I bet that writer was doing some snuffing herself later that night
MOXIE says:
HA! Or petting Slimy. Talk about weird sex toys.
HANDSOME says:
true- there would be no kissing and "telly" with them
MOXIE says:
Maybe a little tickling the Elmo, though.
HANDSOME says:
I wonder if he has a big bird?
MOXIE says:
Nah, probably a Baby Bear...
HANDSOME says:
are we sick in the head?
MOXIE says:
Most likely. Duh.
HANDSOME says:
you make me smile
How stupid are we that we can put sexual innuendos into Sesame Street romances? Pretty stupid or just pretty bored at work. Or maybe it's a way of keeping our parental sanity.
BTW, I miss old school Sesame Street. It's depressing to see Gordon and Maria old. And the voices aren't the same for some of the characters. And I intensely desire to punch Baby Bear smack in his obnoxious lisping face.
Posted by MoxieMamaKC at 12:22 PM 1 comments
Depressing, But Not Surprising Economy Woes...
Saw this article over at Sweetney.
Watch out for pieces of Recession falling from the skies.
How depressing.
I'm actually excited for next year. We'll pay off Handsome's car and Darling will be going to school (no more daycare costs!) so things are looking up for us wiping out some serious debt other than our student loans and mortgage.
Hopefully. Who knows what can happen.
Now I'm paranoid. Thanks alot.
Posted by MoxieMamaKC at 10:10 AM 1 comments
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
It's Not Our Fault the Rest of the World Are Crybabies
I know people are getting sick of the Olympics, but I'm seriously distressed over the fate of Women's Softball as an Olympic sport. I even thought that it was ousted for this Olympics, but was then told by Meesha it was on. Guess the softball team wasn't as glitzy to plug as Swimming or Gymnastics.
Joe Posnanski wrote a great article about the fate of the team this morning. Check it out.
So why is this possibly the last year (It's definitely out for 2012, but may be reinstated in 2016)for Olympic Softball?
It seems like the rest of the world is a bunch of crybabies because our team is just that good. Boo hoo, losers!
According to Posnanski (one of my favorite sports writers):
Everyone at the IOC has denied that America's dominance has anything to do with the great softball purge — after all, they say, dominance is not the point, China is dominant in table tennis, Austria in alpine skiing, Germany in luge, the Hungarians in water polo and so on. But there is something fishy here: IOC president Jacques Rogge said that softball does not have "universal appeal," even though it is played in more than 100 countries, probably quite a few more than modern pentathlon. He seemed to be saying, "We're tired of watching the rest of the world get pummeled by these Americans."
So what? Just because the US has scored 44 runs to 1 (to Canada) in the entire series doesn't mean they should toss the sport.
The super-bestest part of all this? Some people think that the US Softball team should apologize for the dominance.
I agree with Posnanski. Losing a game won't save the sport's spot in the Olympics. I disagree with Posnanski's commenters who think it's all about anti-Americanism (even though the whole US team has dominated the medal count, FYI), but in some ways I think it's anti-American female.
The MBL are being jerks about letting their players join the Olympic Baseball team, so why do the girls have to suffer?
It's not our fault that Americans play the best baseball and softball in the world...So, rest of the world, you can just cry and take your mitts home and say you don't want to play anymore.
(Oh yeah, buy JoPo's book "The Soul of Baseball: A Roadtrip Through Buck O'Neil's America" It's awesome.)
Posted by MoxieMamaKC at 8:34 AM 2 comments
Monday, August 18, 2008
Lessons Learned this Weekend
1. I'm not ready for Kitten Wrangling (too late!)
2. 4 yr olds are just as volatile as 3 yr olds.
3. The Disney Princesses can still suck my ass.
4. Darling is still the most beautiful thing in the world.
5. My mother and mother in law CAN get along (sort of).
6. Handsome is still the guy I most want to shag (longish hair still a consideration).
7. I'm too old for this shit.
8. Family is cool, but sometimes I just want a quiet Sunday...
9. Time Warner can suck me!!!! (Why pay for a DVR if it will spontaneously reboot at the precise moment of Olympic Glory?!)
10. My kid rocks!
Posted by MoxieMamaKC at 7:56 PM 0 comments
Mama Still Loves You...
Yes, I've been SUPER Busy IRL this last weekend, but soon...updates shall come. Stay tuned, Constant Reader, I still love you...
Posted by MoxieMamaKC at 7:55 PM 1 comments
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
My Obligatory (Yet Weepy) Olympic post
I'm all shades of emotional this week. Darling's turning four on Friday and I'm getting all worked up that this is the last August of her babyhood. Next August we'll be buying school supplies and backpacks and uniforms.
So what does this have to do with the Olympics? Hardly anything really.
But, if you remember, watching the 2004 Olympics (swimming, diving and softball) was how we spent the first weeks of her life.
I didn't know what else to talk to her about. The whole "Ouch, stop kicking me..." conversations were over. We were now on to "Ouch, stop biting me with your gums" as we both traversed the painful trail of breastfeeding a newborn.
We would be awake at all hours of the night. There was nothing on tv other than the re-runs of that day's events and what's a better distraction than my 3 favorite sports?
We spent hours talking about how to slide into second, the perfect form for the backstroke and how I almost broke my foot in a failed back pike off the diving board the summer I was 15.
Ya know, girl stuff.
I remember telling her these were some of the greatest athletes in the world, but maybe someday she would top their records. Or not. She could be anything she wanted to be (as long as it wasn't a drug dealer or prostitute or anything like that).
While Handsome still slumbered (he was working crazy hours while I was on maternity leave), I began the maternal bonding.
How blissful it was to let her tiny, tiny little fingers wrap around my finger, seeing her staring at everything in the world, seeming to take in every word I said (and oddly appearing to understand it.) How her breathing changed as she slipped into slumber. How she would smile (I swear she did) from even the first of her days.
(Yep, now I'm getting weepy.)
I can't wait to really sit down with her (for the two seconds she will) and try to watch swimming and diving this year. I want to make it a tradition.
We'll probably watch for approximately 5 minutes and then she'll want to watch "Curious George" or "Arthur".
I guess there's always 2012.
Maybe by then they will reinstate softball. We sort of embarrassed the rest of the world in 2004.
Posted by MoxieMamaKC at 2:18 PM 3 comments
Monday, August 11, 2008
Proper Pilfering Manners....
Wow, I never knew that rules pertained to raiding your neighbor's garbage.
Too bad KCMO discontinued it's regular bulky item pick up day. How are the scrap metallers going to earn their crack?
One time, while he was living with Handsome and I, my Brother In Law, Savior (because he looks like Jesus if He smoked A LOT of pot), came home with a couch that smelled like Chex Mix. Even the cats wouldn't go anywhere near that gold, brown and tan piece of crap.
He called the couch and the abandoned shopping cart he picked up "Found Art".
Mind you, he never did anything with either and I ended up pitching his shit once he moved out.
Still, kids, follow the rules, m'kay?
Posted by MoxieMamaKC at 6:39 PM 0 comments
McConna-Hottie FAIL!
Like most red-blooded American women, I've loved Matthew McConaughey.
But planting your son's placenta for fertilizer?!?
WTF? That borders Tom Cruise crazy.
I've heard of bizzare tales of placenta eating, but seriously?!?
I think I just threw up in my mouth a little.
I'm going to stop now.
Posted by MoxieMamaKC at 1:45 PM 2 comments
Awkward....Very Awkward....
Last week I found one of my very good friends from high school on Facebook.
We exchanged the usual catching up crap and then at the very end of her note she did what I was dreading.
She asked about Shakes, my best friend from high school.
"Do you still keep in touch with Shakes? I've been kind of worried about her."
I should have known it was coming. Nevertheless I didn't know how to answer that question.
Shakes and I became instant best friends in high school. I was the outgoing, super-involved one. She was the eccentric "Well, if you really knew her..." socially inept one. Despite our differences, we were very good friends and did bring out good qualities in each other.
We inevitably drifted apart in college but when she moved back we were still very close. She was even my maid of honor though the title really should have gone to one of my college friends.
We both changed dramatically during our friendship hiatus. We grew up. She came back to a Moxie that was driven to start her career off with a bang, juggling rent and student loans and who was planning her wedding to her college sweetheart. I wasn't perfect or put together but in that "starting out in the real world" mentality, I was at least trying to get my shit together.
When she came back, I a got Shakes that moved back in with her dad, was less focused, took a crap job in her dad's office and started dating a complete Loser (and that's with a capital L). A Shakes that was much more neurotic than before. Nowhere near as happy but she never wanted to do anything about it.
Things were ok for a few years until she met Loser. Loser did/dealt drugs, I think he hit her, but that's not totally proven. Her already stagnant life spiralled out of control. She stopped going to work, stopped going home, stopped returning calls from me, her dad and her other best friend, Anna (who inevitably became mine due to concern over Shakes circumstances.)
Anna and I, who knew each other, but never really hung out, started talking to each other a lot. And we were both worried. We saw unexplainable bruises on her, saw the drastic change in her appearance and it pretty much seemed like she was either drinking heavily, or doing drugs or both.
Right before Darling was born, her father dropped dead. Literally, in a hotel in Vegas and Shakes' last thread of sanity snapped. She couldn't handle anything and Loser sure wasn't helping. Anna and I were the ones who made all the funeral arrangements, brought his body back from Vegas and the day after Darling was born, he was finally put to rest.
Things went from bad to much, MUCH worse after that. Shakes quit/was fired from her job. She lived totally off her father's pension. Spent it like a sailor. Loser broke up with her. Her physical shaking became much more than just the mild tic. Her drinking went wild.
She couldn't understand why I couldn't just drop everything and go out to dinner with her at the drop of a hat. (Hello, newborn. Hello, hubby working his ass off around the clock. Not easy to find a babysitter.)
Shakes had a major falling out with Anna. They didn't speak for 4 years. I kept in touch, but distantly. I finally cut it loose with her when Darling was about 1 years old. I was nervous to have her around Darling or myself.
Handsome didn't want her in the house after she showed up one night, threw up a bottle of wine in my front yard and told me about how when she was driving to St. Louis, she was first pulled over for suspicious driving and how the cops followed her in an airplane all the way. How they didn't take away her father's gun (which was in the car), after she promised to turn it in to a Catholic priest.
That was the point where I said, "Enough is enough. You can't help someone who doesn't want it."
We broke off our friendship in a heated argument in which I begged her to get help.
We didn't talk for 2 years until she just showed up at my work one day. Just showed up, freaking me out. We tried to mend our 15 year friendship.
The night I invited her to Handsome's show and I called her at intermission to ask where she was, she told me that she couldn't find it and went shopping instead.
I said nothing, but the de ja vu washed over me as I remembered a very similar night years before when that exact thing happened and she ended up with her first of three DUIs.
I snapped my cell phone shut and haven't talked to her since.
She just got done with her 6 months house arrest for the third DUI. Her license is suspended, but she is able to walk to her job at McDonalds up the street. Anna says she's doing much better, but I'm not ready to try again. I know this makes me a bad person, but I just can't go through all that again.
SO, that was a really long background to my "How's Shakes?" conundrum. I called Anna, asked what she would do because I COULDN'T tell my old friend what was really going on, but I didn't want to lie.
Anna told me to tell her that I wasn't in touch with Shakes anymore but I could probably find her number if she wanted it.
Which is exactly what I would tell someone to do in my situation, so hopefully it's the right thing. If she calls, Shakes can tell her whatever she wants.
Posted by MoxieMamaKC at 12:26 PM 0 comments
Friday, August 8, 2008
Happy 08/08/08!!!
More Fun With Numerology, Constant Reader (all 2 of you)....
So today's the 8th day of the 8th month of the 8th year in this century.
As someone with a history degree, I love me some dates. I remember being horribly jealous of this guy I went to grade-high school with because his birthday was 7/7/77 and if only my parents would have waited another 2.5 months or so, that could have been MY birthday. How cool would that be? I was a kid, ok?
And then there is always 11/11/1918 at 11:11 am...
So anyway... Here's how some people are celebrating...seems kinda nerdy.
The Olympics kicks off at 8:08 pm tonight (I'm assuming local Chinese time). In Chinese, the word for 8 is similar to the word "wealth" or "fortune." But apparently, it might not be a super-swell day in Western Numerology terms.
I was surprised by all the articles about 08/08/08 and the Olympics out there when I did a Google search.
If you want some really New Age-y stuff, check out this.
Or don't, see if I care. I think this stuff is fun, but I'd never position my life around the "numbers". Besides, I suck at math.
Here's some interesting background on Numerology/famous people who believed in this in case you still don't really know what I'm talking about.
Annnnnd...one more for you 8 symbologists out there.
Posted by MoxieMamaKC at 1:24 PM 3 comments
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Just Saying(s)
Subtitle: Moxie-isms
I read a really informative post by one of my favs, Emaw about a curious saying last week.
Then, I guess Sugar Britches was tickled after reading one of my posts in which I used my favorite phrase to express "Boy it's hot out there!" ("Hotter than a whorehouse on Nickel Night")
So it got me thinking. I use a lot of sayings/words I totally make up.
Here's some of my usual suspect phrases:
"I'm going to go do my part for American Capitalism" (Instead of "I'm going to work")
"Somebody just poopalanched" (Instead of "Seriously, use air freshener next time you take a crap?!")
"Fine as a frog's hair" (In repsonse to "How are you?")
"Fair to middlin'" (see above)
"Well that's super craptastic!" (Instead of "Bummer")
"Excellent, Smithers" (affirmative response to Handsome usually. In reference to The Simpsons)
"See you anon." (Instead of "See you soon!")
"So, how're we gonna pimp this thing?" (Instead of "What are the appropriate marketing channels for this new promotion?" Boss Man loves this and has adopted it on occassion.)
"That's rather fetching" (Instead of "That's pretty")
"That's a few pepperonis short of a pizza pie" (Instead of "That's crazy")
"That rivals the Dirtiest Toilet in Scotland!" (Instead of "Ew! Gross!" see: Trainspotting)
"Well, someone sure needs a nap" (Instead of "Stop being cranky/a bitch/whiny/a party pooper." Rarely this is said to my child. Mostly adults)
I could go on and on. But I won't. What's some of your favorites?
Posted by MoxieMamaKC at 11:47 AM 1 comments
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Good News......Bad News ~ Moxie's Torment
Good News: Handsome got a part that he auditioned his ASS off to get...At a theatre that pays pretty good (Hello, Christmas Cash) and doesn't affect his day job. He's an up and coming star...YIPPEE!!!!!!
Bad News: The director told him that he has to grow his already-longer-than-I-like hair out and can't even shave until fucking Thanksgiving.
Seriously. THANKSGIVING!!!!!!!!!!
I'm tolerant of the physical demands of his art. I've endured everything from long hair to a shaved belly (but not full chest, don't even ask about THAT show) to man-scara and guyliner. I didn't even say anything (well, very much) when he had simulated sex with a Miss Kansas on stage. (She didn't win the title until a year or so later, but whatever).
I'm the best off stage wife EVER! OK?
I love my husband.
But he hasn't had a haircut since Christmas.
He's furry.
It's like living with The Wild Man of Borneo.
His hair is thick and it grows FAST. Think Jim Morrison when we was fat and bearded (but Handsome isn't fat. And only remotely looks like Jim, RIP...)
I miss his choir boy hair cut and cute little goatee. The Catholic Seminary Drop Out look that I first fell in love with.
I miss him clean shaven where I can see the sexy I-got-hit-in-the-mouth-with-a-pig-feed-shovel-accidently-by-my-dad-when-I-was-8-but-Moxie-pretends-it's-a-dangerous-pirate scar.
I love that scar that you can't see unless you're really up-close (and no one should be that close to my Handsome unless you're asking for an intense cat fight).
This is fucking up family Christmas Card photos.
I like running my fingers thru his hair while we're driving along (and he does too), but when Darling comments that Daddy needs to shave? It's time to mow the yard.
There is a silver lining though...The director has said nothing about back hair.
You know what True Love is?
Nair-ing your hubby's back hair without being totally disgusted (well, mildly grossed out).
And I appreciate that he shaves his armpits for me. This was a request when we were first dating. Nothing is grosser than cuddling with a guy who has sweaty, deoderant caked pits. YUCK! He balked at first and then became a convert and now can't have hair there any more.
If he ever has to shave/wax his chest, I'll be super pissed. I like chest hair. It makes a man cuddly, IMO...
I'll be over this (probably) by tomorrow.
Bear with me, Constant Reader.
Posted by MoxieMamaKC at 8:30 PM 3 comments
Feral Child
This is one of the most horrible things I've ever read.
I seriously wanted to cry for that poor child.
When I read stuff like this I absolutely can't believe it. HOW does this happen in America, in the 21st Century?
How did Child Services who had been there several times not snatch her away long before?
How can a mother do this to her child? Even animals have parenting instincts beyond this pathetic excuse for a mother.
I need to hug Darling extra hard tonight.
Posted by MoxieMamaKC at 3:01 PM 1 comments
Super Sonic Advertising
I don't write enough about advertising on my blog. Maybe I think it will bore you. Maybe I'm bored with my profession. (I'm not.)
But it's always interesting to read how good ideas are developed.
I just got done reading this article from The Pitch about the Sonic Drive-In commercials that Barkley (a local superstar agency) designed.
Love them or hate them, the Sonic ads stick with you even if their hamburgers suck. (I like their coneys and slushes though). YouTube the videos if you're super-curious. I'm blocked by the Corporate Internet Gestapo at work.
Posted by MoxieMamaKC at 11:50 AM 2 comments
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Moxie's Culinary Melting Pot
So...new venture for me...
I'd like to be able to cook a complete meal from each of the ethnic groups that make up the Moxie DNA.
I'd like to keep my heritage alive.
Maybe I just like to eat, I don't know...
My grandmothers were both "a little of this, some of that, a lot of this" kind of cooks. In other words, they failed to pass down written recipes, other than my great grandmother's German Potato Salad recipe and my grandma's povitica recipe.
It's a culinary quest.
Food binds people together. Traditions in food can define a people. (God help us as Americans...hamburgers, nachos, etc...)
So, I'm asking for help. Got any recipes from any of these cultures?
Here's the Moxie stewpot:
1/4 Lithuanian
1/4 Ukrainian (I'm staring at YOU, Meesha!)
1/4 German
1/4ish Britannic (Scottish, English, Irish)
Splash of Native American (Powhatan and TBD tribe)
Please help if you can, otherwise, I'll rely on the Internet...I'll keep you posted on the meals as they progress...
Posted by MoxieMamaKC at 9:27 PM 2 comments
Dirty Politics ~ GO VOTE!
I am an active voter. I know today is expected to have very low voter turn out (Like almost every August election). This really irritates me. My poli-sci professor in college told us that voting in the presidential elections is wasting your vote and that you should ALWAYS know the issues and have your vote count on the local and state elections. I take his strange wisdom to heart.
I'm lucky enough to live in the Missouri 44th District. The race for State Rep has my bikini briefs in a bunch.
The Kandor vs. Coffman race is going to be close (supposedly) and honestly, both of them have decent credentials and would be a good representative of my District.
But I hate smear campaigning. I hate politicians who play dirty during elections. That's why I refuse to vote for Jason Kandor.
Amy Coffman has the official Moxie family seal of approval. Here's why:
1. She actually went door to door herself asking for our vote. Handsome was home at the time and spent a few minutes talking with her about what she hopes to do in Jeff City. She lives a few blocks from us and actually answered intelligently the questions Handsome posed. (He LOVES door to door salespeople/political canvassers. He can keep them busy for 20 minutes, thinking they've got a sale/he's going to sign their petition just to shut them down because he doesn't agree with them.)
2. She sent her dad in for back up. I was the one who answered the door when he came by. He's a very nice guy, knows what his daughter's stances are and even joked with me about the Kandor Sign that Soccer Neighbor Mom has in her yard. Sending Daddy might have been overkill, but it was still nice anyway.
3. Jason Kandor's propaganda. Over sized yard signs make me angry. They just do. I hate clutter and the Honesty, Integrity, blah blah blah signs irritate me, but his postcard royally pissed me off. His one major contention with Coffman was that she was a lobbyist. Ok. What he failed to illuminate was the fact that it was for groups like the AARP and the Women's Political Caucus.
He'll win votes by shooting dirty pool. When the word lobbyist comes to mind, visions of the NRA and Big Tobacco come to mind. Under-informed voters will look at that postcard and toss their vote to Kandor. That sucks. I checked out her website and I liked her response to his low blow. That shows class. Unfortunately the damage is done by his not-quite-all-the-truth advertising.
As a marketer, nothing pisses me off more than twisted truths. If your product isn't good enough to win over the consumer on it's own features and benefits and instead has to attack another, you're incompetent and should hang up your jock and go into a different field.
4. A good soldier does not necessarily make a good political leader. For every George Washington and Theodore Roosevelt, there's a Ulysses S. Grant, Eisenhower and John Kerry (and dare I say John McCain?) I hate it when politicians use that as a bonus point for themselves. So what? I know plenty of veterans from the Vietnam War on that would make crappy politicians. You can love your country without serving in the military.
5. I want an advocate, not a politician. Look at the experiences of the two. Kandor's an attorney/poli-sci teacher. Good for him, but is he going to fight for the economic and social rights of those he would serve in the 44th District or will he get caught up in the political games? Amy Coffman already knows how to fight for the rights of Missourians. She even told Handsome she was tired of the "politicians" running Jeff City and losing focus of the needs of the working class.
I could go on and on. But I won't.
The 10 pm news is going to be a nail biter tonight.
Posted by MoxieMamaKC at 11:35 AM 2 comments
Monday, August 4, 2008
Not dead for 32 years
I just read this story about a guy who was presumed dead in a Colorado flood in 1976. Turns out he had no idea he was "dead" and has been living in Oklahoma.
What particularly tickles me about this story is the fact that he's a funeral director. I find it semi-ironic. Why? I don't know.
Posted by MoxieMamaKC at 12:44 PM 1 comments
Weekend Shenanigans
In case you didn't notice (or weren't in KC), it was hotter than a whorehouse on nickel night last weekend. Not a good weekend to do much of anything but stay in an air conditioned cocoon. Nevertheless, it was a busy one for the Moxie household.
Friday night was a family night so Handsome, Darling and I hung out in the inflatable pool and splashed around. Saturday I got a TON of projects on my To-Do List accomplished (yay me!). Darling went for her first sleep over/camp out with a friend (They camped in the living room)and had a great time.
Saturday night, Handsome had some work to catch up on and I met up with one of my best friends and her significant other for dinner/drinks at Lew's. We got into a bizarre conversation with this totally drunk guy who befriended us about how the Native Americans were the first Communists (Don't ask me, I can't explain his theory.)
Anywho, after we left Crazy Guy at the bar, I headed up to the museum. It wasn't my weekend to work, but I'm the official Paranormal Wrangler for the museum and we had a group that wanted to come in and investigate. I'm the only one who isn't scared to be there after dark by myself, so it usually falls to me. I don't mind, it's really pretty interesting. And I get paid to be there. Bonus.
We started letting groups come in about 2 years ago and have noticed a lot of visitors who come to the museum just because they read the investigation reports on the various paranormal websites. Free advertising = good.
Is it haunted? Yes. A lot of crazy shit happened there before it was a museum and I myself have had some very freaky sightings/experiences. I usually don't believe a lot of stories I hear from other people, but like I attract weirdos, I seem to attract ghosts too. I've had several sightings/experiences in my life so that I totally believe in them. So, no making fun of me because I'm weird. (I'm already planning on blogging a few of my encounters during October. Ghost stories with Moxie, so stay tuned.)
Anyway, if you ever have the opportunity to go on a paranormal investigation, do it. It's sort of fun. Unfortunately, don't expect it to be like Ghost Hunters. It's not. It's a lot of sitting around in the dark with electronics. If cool stuff happens, you don't know about it until they go back through their tapes/photos.
The freakiest that I've been a part of was an EVP that was caught in a part of the museum that always creeps me out. On the tape you hear me and and the investigator guy just talking and then right over us, you can hear very clearly: "Get out. Get out!"
Had I really heard that before listening back to the tape, I would have freaked!
This investigation was no different. We'll have to wait and see if they find anything. Only thing that was really visible was a hanging lamp that moved on it's own, but nothing being hurled at us or anything. I'm convinced cool shit like that only happens on tv.
I'm always really amazed by how non-believing a lot of investigators are. They are very technical in their work, and only once has a group brought a psychic (who by the way was totally the real deal. She talked about stuff that even we, the museum staff had to look up to confirm.)
This group was a bunch of really awesome people. I genuinely liked them. Some groups are not that cool. They are either really weird or just a bunch of people who have no idea what they're doing.
I've become really good at separating the real from the BS when it comes to these guys. So, if you've got a haunting, let me know. I can definitely recommend a great group that will do it for free.
I didn't get home until super late Saturday night, so Sunday, after retrieving my child from her sleepover, I just lounged, did laundry and watched Mad Men.
Such was my so-called life this weekend.
Posted by MoxieMamaKC at 9:56 AM 4 comments


text:
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subset: commoncrawl


text:
The Florida Parole Commission ruled today that Thomas Coe, convicted of the murder of 2-year-old Bradley McGee in 1989, should serve the rest of his life in prison.
The Florida Parole Commission ruled Wednesday that Thomas Coe, convicted of the murder of 2-year-old Bradley McGee in 1989, should serve the rest of his life in prison.
In the panel's first review of the Lakeland case, the commissioners set a release date for Coe — sentenced to life in prison with a minimum of 25 years — for July 2084. That would make Coe, now 46, 117 years old when he is released.
But Coe's case will be periodically reviewed by the commission and that date could later be adjusted. In a separate decision, the commission set December 2019 as the next time the panel will review Coe's sentence.
The decision came after a plea from 10th Judicial State Attorney Jerry Hill, who forcefully argued that Coe should remain in prison indefinitely. He called the boy's brutal death — after he was plunged headfirst into a toilet after he soiled his pants — the worst case he has ever prosecuted.
"I promise you, it's the saddest case I ever appeared on," Hill said. "Bradley McGee had a horrible life."
Hill used most of his testimony to recount the short, tragic life of Bradley McGee, at times apologizing for the graphic details.
After McGee had defecated in his pants, Coe held his 25-month-old stepson by the ankles and repeatedly plunged him headfirst into the toilet and threw him into the bathtub. When the toddler staggered into the living room, he was hit with pillows until he lay in a fetal position convulsing on the floor, Hill said.
In preparing for the parole case, Hill said he re-read the medical examiner's report on the boy's autopsy, counting 52 separate visible injuries to the 31-pound boy's body, not including extensive internal hemorrhaging.
Hill said Bradley's death in July 1989 in Lakeland was the culmination of a pattern of abuse inflicted by Coe and his wife, Sheryl, who served nine in years in prison for her role in her son's murder. Bradley died shortly after being returned to the Coes by state child welfare workers, and his death prompted major changes in state child-protection laws and programs.
Hill said Bradley McGee was repeatedly punished and abused by his parents, including injuries to his groin and "the rubbing of feces on Bradley's face."
"This child had an absolutely horrible life," Hill said.
As for Coe, who is serving his sentence at Columbia Correctional Institution in Lake City, Hill said he has never shown any remorse for the killing and not has participated in rehabilitation or vocational programs while in prison. He told a parole commission investigator he was "young and dumb" at the time of the crime.
Hill said that was no excuse. "He simply had no feelings for a human being," Hill said, saying Coe had "sadistic" and criminal proclivities.
"He should never have the hope of being released from prison," Hill said, asking the parole commissioners to set his release date at "infinity."
"The man should never have the prospect of seeing the light of day again unless it's filtered through razor wire and iron bars," Hill told the panel.
Hill was accompanied by Samantha Campbell, whose family took care of Bradley when he was taken away from the Coes. Campbell, who described herself as Bradley's foster sister, said the infant would have been 26 years old if he had lived.
"I'm here to make sure that Bradley's silent cry is not ever forgotten," said Campbell, who also asked that Coe remain in prison for the rest of his life.
In their decision, Parole Commissioners Tena Pate, Bernard Cohen and Melinda Coonrod rejected a recommendation that Coe be released in 2029. He was originally sentenced to life in prison for the murder with a consecutive 15-year sentence for aggravated child abuse.
The commissioners cited a number of aggravating factors in the crime in deciding to set Coe's release date in 2084.
Following the hearing, Hill said he wished the commission would have approved a longer release date, but said he was pleased with the decision, calling it "prudent" under the state's parole laws.


text:
In A Short History of Progress, Ronald Wright, tries to tell us, not only of his attempt to understand where modern man and his civilizations came from but where we may be headed.
It is no secret that the twentieth century was a time of runaway growth in human numbers, consumption and technology, placing a colossal load on all our natural systems, especially earth air and water - the very elements of life. The great question for the twenty-first century is how, or whether, this can go on.
The title of the first chapter, Gauguin's Questions, came from the title of one of the French painter's works, Where do we come from? What are we? Where are we going?
It is Gauguin's third question - Where are we going? - that Wright tries to address in this book.
He feels that by answering the other two questions first we can answer it - broad strokes.
If we see clearly what we are and what we have done, we can recognize human behavior that persists through many times and cultures. Knowing this can tell us what we are likely to do and where we are likely to go from here.
The second chapter, The Great Experiment, gives us a brief, colourful description of the early origins of our species, describing at one point the 10,000 year old Neanderthal/Cro-Magnon struggle as early man made his way out of Africa. Apparently the Cro-Magnon won. He describes the rise of civilizations, the first thought to be in Sumer (Mesopotamia - now Iraq) and Egypt, as an experiment where the progress of man, in numerous instances, became a trap that they could not or would not escape from. He cites overgrazing, deforestation, weapons technology and the ruling elite's propensity for maintaining their status quo even during darkening times. Does this sound all too familiar? This so called Progress Trap has been a slippery slope that has plagued us since the Stone Age. All cultures, past and present are dynamic, and while our civilization's particulars differ from those of the past, they are not as different as we like to think.
Wright goes on to detail how four ancient societies - Sumer, Rome, the Maya, Easter Island - which, in roughly a thousand years each, wore out their welcome from nature and collapsed.
He also mentions two exceptions, Egypt and China, who achieved runs of 3,000 years or more for atypical reasons:
- an abundance of resources, particularly topsoil, with alluvial deposits from annual Nile River flooding and wind-blown glacial loess that was exceedingly deep, respectively
- farming methods that worked with, rather than against, natural cycles
- settlement patterns that did not exceed, or permanently damage, the carrying capacity of the local environment
- each time history repeats itself the price goes up
- the world still has differing cultures and political systems, but at the economic level there is now only one big civilization, feeding on the whole planet's natural capitol
- the twentyfold growth in world trade since the 1970s has meant that hardly anywhere is self-sufficient. Every Eldorado has been looted
- quoting Joseph Tainter, who notes this interdependance and warns, that "collapse, if and when it comes again, will this time be global... World civilization will disintegrate as a whole."
"Things are moving so fast that inaction itself is one of the biggest mistakes. The 10,000-year experiment of the settled life will stand or fall by what we do, and don't do now. The reform that is needed is not anti-capitalist, anti-American, or even deep environmentalist; it is simply the transition from the short-term to long-term thinking. From recklessness and excess to moderation and the precautionary principle.
The great advantage we have, our best chance for avoiding the fate of past societies, is that we know about those past societies. We can see how and why they went wrong. Homo sapiens has the information to know itself for what it is: an Ice Age hunter only half evolved towards intelligence; clever but seldom wise.
We are now at the stage when the Easter Islander could still have halted the senseless cutting and carving, could have gathered the last trees' seeds to plant out of reach of the rats. We have the tools and the means to share resources, clean up pollution, dispense basic health care and birth control, set economic limits in line with natural ones. If we don't do these things now, while we prosper, we will never be able to do them when times get hard. Our fate will twist out of our hands. And this new century will not grow very old before we enter an age of chaos and collapse that will dwarf all the dark ages in our past.
Now is our last chance to get the future right."
Ronald Wright is an award winning novelist, historian and essayist. This book was part of the CBC Radio's Massey Lecture Series in 2004.


text:
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gods at war
Defeating the Idols that Battle for Your Heart
In gods at war, Kyle Idleman, bestselling author of not a fan, helps every believer recognize there are false gods at war within each of us, and they battle for the place of glory and control in our lives. What keeps us from truly following Jesus is that our hearts are pursuing something or someone else. While these pursuits may not be the "graven images" of old, they are in fact modern day idols. Behind the sin you're struggling with, the discouragement you're dealing with, the lack of purpose you're living with is a false god that is winning the war for your heart.
According to Idleman, idolatry isn't an issue―it is the issue.
By asking insightful questions, Idleman reveals which false gods each of us are allowing on the throne of our lives. What do you sacrifice for? What makes you mad? What do you worry about? Whose applause do you long for? We're all wired for worship, but we often end up valuing and honoring the idols of money, sex, food, romance, success and many others that keep us from the intimate relationship with God that we desire.
Using true, powerful and honest testimonies of those who have struggled in each area, gods at warillustrates a clear path away from the heartache of our 21st century idolatry back to the heart of God – enabling us to truly be completely committed followers of Jesus.
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| 4.7°C Belfast
Regulators will be able to strike off or discipline doctors, nurses and other health workers who cannot communicate clearly in English, under plans announced today.
A new draft Bill published by the Law Commission will unite the nine bodies currently covering healthcare, allowing them to work from one legislative framework.
At present, organisations including the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) and the General Medical Council (GMC) are bound by different rules on what they can do.
New powers would allow regulators to proactively investigate instances of suspected poor conduct and practice whenever they come to their attention.
At the moment, some can only investigate once they have received a formal complaint.
The sanctions regulators can impose will be extended and, for the first time, they will be able to discipline or strike off professionals who are not able to communicate clearly in English.
The Bill also allows regulators to reconsider cases that have been closed following a mistake or error, as recommended by the inquiry into the scandal at Mid Staffs.
A process of revalidation - where professionals undergo "MOTs" to ensure they are still fit to practise - will be extended from doctors to all health and social care professionals.
Schemes could also be introduced to bar unregulated workers from providing services, according to the UK-wide recommendations.
The nine organisations, including the General Dental Council, General Pharmaceutical Council and Health Professions Council, are r esponsible for around 1.4 million workers across 32 health and social care roles.
Nicholas Paines QC, the commissioner leading the project for England and Wales, said: "The professional regulators of the health and social care field operate within a wide variety of legal frameworks that have been agreed and amended by Parliament in different ways, at different times, over the past 150 years.
"Our recommended reforms place patient protection firmly at the heart of a new legal framework.
"If implemented, they will enhance the autonomy of the regulators, empower them to respond more quickly and effectively to emerging public health concerns and enable them to meet the demands of a modern, devolved health and social care sector."
A joint letter signed by the regulators calls on the Government to support the new plans and asks for "urgent parliamentary consideration" of the Bill.
It said: " The Law Commission was tasked with creating a single, streamlined legal structure covering all nine regulators which would enable us to provide better protection for patients, be more responsive, reduce the burden of regulation and to drive down costs.
"We were, and remain, committed to these aims. Realising them is essential if we are to retain the trust and confidence of the public, healthcare professionals and the health service in which those professionals work.
"The recommendations of Robert Francis QC following events in Mid Staffordshire highlighted the vital importance of effective regulation focused on promoting safe, compassionate patient care rather than, as too often in the past, intervening only after patients have suffered harm."
A Department of Health spokesman said: "Following the Francis Inquiry, it is important for public and patient confidence that our professional regulation system is fit for the future.
"The Government is committed to legislate on this important issue when parliamentary time allows. We welcome the Law Commission's report and will respond to their proposals in due course."
The Bill will put all regulators on the same footing when it comes to being able to test the language competency of health workers.
According to the Law Commission, regulators have limited powers to remove workers with poor communication skills once they are registered.
Under the new plans, all regulators will be able to language test any person applying to be on the register if specific issues are raised about their lack of proficiency.
The regulators will also be able to remove from the register or discipline any professional specifically on the basis that their fitness to practise is impaired due to insufficient knowledge of the English language. No additional criteria will be needed.
The GMC is already receiving extra powers in the summer to test the language competency of doctors.
Niall Dickson, chief executive of the GMC, welcomed the Bill.
He said: " Under the current arrangements we have to go through a bureaucratic and legalistic process to change our rules which serves no one - as the Law Commission and the Government have recognised there is a better way which will encourage reform and innovation in the interests of improving standards of medicine and patient safety.
'In addition to this fundamental change in the legal framework, the Bill will also tackle critical issues which require attention now. These include granting us the right to appeal against fitness to practise panel decisions which we believe are too lenient.
"We also want to be able to strike off doctors who have been convicted of serious offences without the need for a panel hearing - there is no place for serious criminals in the profession."


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SACRAMENTO (AP) — In a victory for Big Tobacco, two California bills aimed at curbing youth smoking by cracking down on e-cigarettes and boosting the smoking age to 21 have stalled, with one lawmaker even rejecting his own measure after it was revised.
Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, had proposed to regulate electronic cigarettes as tobacco products, but that provision was stripped before a committee vote Wednesday, prompting him to renounce the plan.
"I cannot support it any longer. I disassociate myself from it," he said.
Leno angrily told other lawmakers they were fooling themselves to think they shouldn't define the devices that deliver liquid nicotine as tobacco products. He said the gutted version of SB140 won't keep young people from getting hooked on e-cigarettes.
Adult smoking rates are at an all-time low, but e-cigarettes are experiencing an explosion in popularity, particularly among young people. For the first time in 2014, more teens reported using e-cigarettes than traditional cigarettes, according to the California Department of Public Health.
Scores of small business owners and e-cigarette users cheered the outcome, quickly pointing out that they were the ones who stood up and opposed the bill and not large tobacco companies.
"It's a victory for small businesses across this state that do not want to be associated with the tobacco industry," said Gregory Conley, who testified against the bill as president of the American Vaping Association.
Conley said there are an estimated 1,400 e-cigarette retailers, or vape shops, in California.
But for many lawmakers, Big Tobacco cast a large shadow. Major tobacco companies are expected to overtake 75 percent of the e-cigarette market in the next 10 years, and though notably absent from the hearing, tobacco companies Altria and R.J. Reynolds have donated to over half of the members serving on the Committee on Governmental Organization, according to campaign finance records.
Altria and R.J. Reynolds have together spent more than $215,000 on lobbying in 2015, while the American Heart Association, American Lung Association and American Cancer society collectively spent more than $142,000 in lobbying to toughen tobacco laws, lobbying disclosures show.
Since 2013, however, large tobacco companies have spent more than double the amount spent by the trio of health groups to lobby California lawmakers.
Altria and R.J. Reynolds have spent over $2.7 million since 2013, while the AHA, ALA and ACS have together spent just under $1 million.
The chairman of the Committee on Governmental Organization, Democratic Assemblyman Adam Gray of Merced, has accepted over $29,000 from Altria and R.J. Reynolds since 2013.
An attempt to reach Gray for comment was not immediately successful Thursday.
Altria spokesman David Sutton did not answer questions about company contributions to individual lawmakers on the committee.
Members of the committee who supported the bill as amended said the state should hold off as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration considers a national policy.
"I'm not sure I'm there yet on the definition," said Sen. Henry Perea, D-Fresno, who voted for the amendments after noting pending federal developments by the FDA, which is weighing regulations that would subject e-cigarettes to a mandatory federal review and require that packages carry health warnings.
Leno's original bill would have banned the use of e-cigarettes in California restaurants, hospitals and public transportation. Vendors would need to apply to the state for a license and would be subject to new state taxes.
The bill to increase the legal smoking age, meanwhile, stalled when the author yanked it from the agenda shortly before it was scheduled to go before the same committee.
Democratic Sen. Ed Hernandez of La Puente said he lacked the votes needed to move the bill forward.
"Big Tobacco is following their usual playbook and trying to kill this bill quietly in committee," he said in a statement. He vowed to continue working on the bill this year.
SB151 would make California just the second state after Hawaii to raise the minimum smoking age from 18 to 21.
Hawaii Gov. David Ige, a Democrat, signed legislation last month bumping his state's smoking age, joining New York City with the highest age restriction in the country.
SACRAMENTO (AP) — In a victory for Big Tobacco, two California bills aimed at curbing youth smoking by cracking down on e-cigarettes and boosting the smoking age to 21 have stalled, with one lawmaker even rejecting his own measure after it was revised.


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During the Bulls annual "Circus Trip," two important events took place that may chart the course for the rest of the team's season: they shared Thanksgiving dinner together as a team, and Joakim Noah shared a hotel steam room with John Elway.
The dinner seems to have unified the team, the steam room seems to have scarred the fun-loving, big-haired center for life:
His descriptions of the "meeting" — it really wasn't one because Noah said he never said a word to Elway — included "kind of weird, but it's a true story," "a weird moment, kind of awkward," "I was going to say something, but figured he just wants to spend some time alone," and "it was just me and him in there."
Clearly, Noah saw something more than just Elway's famous teeth. Here's video of the shaken pivot man (his horror story begins around the 1:00 mark): Click to view
Endless speculation about what went down in that steam room is welcome in the comments below.
Bulls' Joakim Noah Has Close Encounter With John Elway ... In A Steam Room [SBNation Chicago]
Thank you for your continued support of Deadspin. FreeDarko time.


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Monday, August 24, 2009
Paella for the Sea Fearing - Coast to Coast Challenge 2
It's time for another recipe chosen for Bakespace's Coast to Coast Cooking! This time we chose Paella which can be made in so many ways to please all palates. If you've been reading my blog for a while you know that Steve and I are the rare few Italians that do not like seafood. We like fried calamari and sushi and I'll eat tuna salad but that's about it. So my version of paella contains chicken and chorizo. It's very similar to arroz con pollo but the chorizo gives it a totally different and fabulous flavor.
I learned a few things while researching paella recipes and ingredients. There are different types of chorizo, raw which is like Italian sausage, dried which is like soppresatta. They come hot and mild, portugese, spanish, etc. I used dried spanish sausage called Palacios. In my area this can found at Kings Supermarket, Wegmans Supermarket and Fairway Market. I used one package of it which I think was only about 1/2 pound. It's less than the recipe called for but was so flavorful that I don't think I would have needed any more. The rice that should be used is a short grain spanish rice called Bomba or Valencia. I could not find this anywhere so I used Italian short grain rice called Arborio. This rice is usually used for risotto. I'm not really sure why a long grain rice can't be used for this. I think that it would result in a drier rice which is what I was looking for. Next time, I will try it that way,
The recipe that we used is Paella a la Valenciana. This is a traditional paella recipe that we started with. As always in these challenges, we get to make these our own and change them in any way we see fit. I decided to look for another recipe that doesn't contain seafood and found one by Paula Deen. I followed her recipe and then threw in a chicken breast for Steve and some spanish olives at the end. I didn't use the lemon, I just didn't think I'd want to mask the flavor with lemon. I served this to Steve's family and it was a big hit. I'm glad I got to try this out!
Check out how all the other participants' recipes came out! Spryte and Dani even have guest bloggers who participated in the challenge. Click their links to see them all.
Shane from Culinary Alchemy
Spryte of Spryte's Place
Danielle of Cooking for my Peace of Mind
Monica from Alaskan Dermish in the Kitch
Spanish Chicken and Chorizo Paella
by Paula Deen
1/4 cup olive oil
1 chicken, cut legs, drumsticks and thighs
Freshly ground black pepper
2 teaspoons paprika
1 large onion, diced
1 large green bell pepper, diced
1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes
4 1/2 cups chicken broth
1 pound Spanish style chorizo links, cut into slices on the bias
2 cups short-grain rice (recommended: Valencia or Arborio)
Pinch saffron threads
1 cup fresh or frozen green peas
Lemon wedges, for service
Heat a paella pan or very large, shallow skillet or pot, preferably with 2 handles over high heat.
Cook's note: A large cast iron skillet would work here.
Pour in the olive oil and let it heat up. Season the chicken all over with salt, pepper and paprika. Sear in the olive oil until browned all over. Transfer to a plate with tongs.
Lower the heat to medium and saute the onions and bell pepper until softened. Stir in the diced tomatoes, chicken broth, and chorizo. Bring the liquid to a boil and then stir in the rice and saffron. Add the browned chicken pieces. The rice should be completely covered with liquid. Cook the paella without stirring for 20 minutes. When the liquid has all been absorbed, pour the peas over the top of the pot, turn off the heat and cover the pot with a kitchen towel. Let stand 5 minutes and then serve with lemon wedges.
13 comments:
- Spryte said...
Your version sounds so good too!!!!
- August 24, 2009 at 7:25 PM
- Zoe said...
These all look and sound delicious! Paella is definitely a challenge
- August 24, 2009 at 9:07 PM
- Unknown said...
Ooh... I really like your version. My boyfriend is allergic to shellfish, so he could never have a traditional paella... but this we could do!
- August 24, 2009 at 9:28 PM
- The Moon Muse said...
Ditto on the YUM!!!
- August 24, 2009 at 9:37 PM
- Denise said...
I have never made paella, love to eat it, you make it seem like I could actually do it.
- August 24, 2009 at 9:46 PM
- matt74 said...
Michele..love your dish..i have a lot of friends just like you guys.no seafood many different reasons as to why they don't like it..but they always love meat!..so I'll have to give it a shot for sure.
- August 25, 2009 at 3:57 AM
- DDpie said...
This is so awesome. I love the non-seafood version (actually I love all the different versions) My stomach is so growling on this tour! LOL
- August 25, 2009 at 9:24 AM
- Bob said...
Yay a non seafood version! :D Looks fantastic, I would totally eat that.
- August 25, 2009 at 11:52 AM
- La Bella Cooks said...
I LOVE paella! This one sounds especially delicious with all the seafood.
- August 25, 2009 at 12:15 PM
- Unknown said...
Michele YUM!! It turned out so good! I wish I had found the dried spanish sausage you used. I'm having so much fun with our cook-offs! :)
- August 25, 2009 at 12:48 PM
- teresa said...
ooh wow, this looks so good, well done!
- August 25, 2009 at 2:47 PM
- Shane T. Wingerd said...
Most Excellent Michele!! I was wondering if the dried version of Chorizo would be similar to Sopressata. YUM!
- August 25, 2009 at 3:39 PM
- Patti T. said...
It is so much fun looking at all the variations on this recipe, they are all so delicious looking, yet all so very different. Great job Michele.
- August 25, 2009 at 4:50 PM


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I am reproducing Michael O'Brien's Newsletter Regarding Barack Obama and the Question of the Anti-Christ for those who may not have had the opportunity to read it yet.
All Saints Day, 1 November 2008
Dear Friends,
From just north of the border, we Canadians, like other people throughout the world, are observing and praying for the coming federal election in the United States of America. I would prefer to keep private my counsel about political choices, because it is not my country. However, I am receiving letters from American subscribers and visitors to my studio website asking me some rather surprising questions about Barack Obama, related to one of my novels.
During the past year I have read a number of his pronouncements, and saw the smoke and mirrors beneath the rhetoric, but couldn't understand why everyone south of the border (the other south of the border, the 49th parallel) was getting so excited about him, both pro and con. Then a few weeks ago a German friend called me immediately after Obama's speech in Berlin, to say that the presidential candidate had mesmerized the crowds, and that a commentator on German television had said: "We have just heard the next President of the United States...and the future President of the World." My friend felt that Obama bore an uncanny resemblance to the fictional character of the President in my novel Father Elijah. I have received several other letters saying the same thing and asking what I thought about it.
From my own reading of Obama's declarations and stated positions, I knew he was an ultra-liberal, a social revolutionary with visionary pretensions. But the Antichrist? No, not possible, I thought. I felt that he was too shallow a man to be the Son of Perdition, the Man of Sin, the Beast of the Book of Revelation. And I still think so. Obama is a crowd-pleaser with just the right ethos of idealistic crusader. That the crusade and the banners under which it marches are evil does not automatically prove that he is the Antichrist.
But now that I have seen the video of the Berlin speech I think there is more here than meets the eye. He is indeed a powerful manipulator of crowds, even as he appears ever so humble and wholesomely charming. I doubt that he is the long-prophesied ruler of the world, but I also believe that he is a carrier of a deadly moral virus, indeed a kind of anti-apostle spreading concepts and agendas that are not only anti-Christ but anti-human as well. In this sense he is of the spirit of Antichrist (perhaps without knowing it), and probably is one of several key figures in the world who (knowingly or unknowingly) will be instrumental in ushering in the time of great trial for the Church under its last and worst persecution, amidst the numerous other tribulations prophesied in the books of Daniel and Revelation, and letters of St Paul, St. John, and St. Peter.
Of course the mystique that has grown up around him is endlessly reinforced by the liberal media, which presents him to us as a high-minded humanist, a kind of secular messiah (see the Catechism of the Catholic Church, n. 675). Yet when all the rhetoric is boiled down to its substance, the man is advocating unlimited state-sanctioned murder, and compounds it by indulging in habitual falsehood. He is well accustomed to playing loose with the truth whenever it is expedient for him to do so; or else he is the victim of the largest memory lapses in recorded history; or perhaps he is just not careful about how he expresses things----a blurring or selectivity regarding facts for the purpose of aggrandizing his public image. There is a controversy currently raging in the (admittedly unreliable) forum of the internet, prompted by an African-American talk show host in Los Angeles who listed 39 significant details that Barack Obama claimed were facts about himself, but on further investigation were proved to be simply untrue. There has been some wild-fire debunking of the debunking, and then more counter-debunking, but it remains obvious that forthrightness and clarity are not major concerns in the Obama camp.
What are we to make of a man who has appeared out of semi-obscurity and become, nearly overnight, so very much an idol of the popular imagination? That he intends to become the most effective advocate of murder of the unborn ever seen in America should give us pause. Murder and lies are as old as the lands east of Eden, of course, but when they are charmingly packaged, proposed as reasonable and just policies (with a smile, a resonant voice, and an appealing flash of the eyes), one begins to wonder just what is afoot in the modern age. It brings to mind a passage from the first Act of Shakespeare's Hamlet:
"That one may smile, and smile, and be a villain..."
The line is from a scene where prince Hamlet has just encountered the ghost of his father, who informs his son that he was poisoned by his own brother Claudius (the "smiling, damned villain"), who after murdering him, seized the king's crown and his queen.
Barack Obama is an image-maker, creating his own myth as he goes along. This would be a sad defect in any human being, but it takes on ominous proportions in a person who may become, after November 4th, one of the most powerful figures in the world. How is it possible that such a tragic turn of events may come about, if indeed a majority of Americans choose to believe the smile and the myth? Why is it that so many people have come to believe that a mirage is reality, even destiny? Do pro-Obama voters hanker for a world figure who would heal old divisions between races and religions, thus heralding a new age for mankind? During this time of near intolerable tensions, does he appear to be the one who can reconcile Islam and Christianity, Africa and America, occident and orient, black and white, rich and poor? Do they see his racial origins as a symbolic victory over the history of racial oppression? Do they see in him the good-hearted "under-dog", the gutsy street fighter who agitates for the rights of the "little guy," whose meteoric rise to a position of maximum influence represents themselves enthroned at last in the high seat of power? Is this why they ignore his every grave fault and hungrily consume his vague idealist platitudes as if these were a kind of new gospel for the third millennium? Our hero. Our visionary. Our Great Friend and spokesman in the forum of the world?
Clearly, contemporary man needs heroes. But why not choose a genuine one, why not look a little deeper and work a little harder to find a man of courage and principle, and if it helps in the historical healing process, why not a very different kind of black man, say a person like Alan Keyes, a scholar, former ambassador, experienced in different levels of government, and (it might be added) an African-American married to a woman from India. Moreover, he is a devout Catholic who believes in moral absolutes and has amply proved that he will stand firm to defend them regardless of the cost to his own career. He knows that kings and presidents cannot usurp the natural law, the moral order of the universe, without bringing down judgment upon their nations. But it need not be Keyes. It might be any number of other men and women of clear thought and clear principle. Surely there are "Ten Just Men" still out there somewhere in America. So why Obama? And why does he rise and rise as his mouth smiles and smiles, exuding sincerity as he speaks lies and death?
And why, most horribly, most shamefully, are so many Christians of malformed or unformed conscience supporting him? Is it because they have never been clearly instructed in the truth, never understood the foundation upon which the moral cosmos is built? Is morality for them merely another system of abstract "values" in a crowded playing field of such systems, from which one may pick and choose? In the case of Catholics, for example, have they been blinded by a diet of theological nuances and deadly little loopholes offered to them by the committees of national episcopal conferences -- committees that have absolutely no authority over Catholics, yet which are widely revered as a kind of alternative Magisterium? Have they been deadened by a habitual dismissing or dissembling of the solid teaching given to them by the universal Church under Peter? Have they grown accustomed to listening to opinion shapers who tell them that certain excellent apostolic Bishops in America who teach the truth without compromise are merely hidebound reactionaries, moralistic extremists, contemporary manifestations of those old boogymen who still haunt the American psyche -- the Chillingworths and Dimmesdales and the judges in The Scarlet Letter? And so it goes, this over-reaction to Puritanism played out over centuries, an over-reaction that breeds tragedies a thousand times worse than Salem's. Lies compounding on lies, and it all floats on an ocean of spilled innocent blood. And who can gaze at that ocean (or be splashed by it) without coming to a radical choice: One either turns away into a deeper state of denial, or one turns heart and mind toward the splendor of Truth, and changes one's life accordingly.
Is this why many of our Catholic people have become impulse-driven impressionists? Of course, the blindness is not due to the failure of pastors alone. The Ministry of Disinformation (by which I mean most modern media) has played a major role. There is also the erosion of truth in the education systems, combined with the gradual confusion and weakening of conscience through our addiction to the "soma" drugs supplied by the entertainment industry. Other factors may be the war in Iraq, or Republican economics, or the Bush administration, or the structure of Capitalism itself, or any number of prudential questions in the sociopolitical order, all of which are presently tangled nests of moral dilemma. But why do they not see that these questions are secondary to the fundamental issue of life itself? Why would they replace one reigning oligarchy with another kind of oligarchy -- moreover, one that would kill vast numbers of its own citizens?
"I call on heaven and earth today to witness against you: I have set before you life or death, blessing or curse. Choose life, then, so that you and your descendants may live...." (Deuteronomy 30:19)
May God bless and guide you,
in Jesus our Saviour,
with prayers and fasting,
Michael O'Brien


text: oid2037717 brbl2037717 More about permissions and copyright Photographic prints Photographs In pencil on verso: Beinecke Rare Book + Ms. Library. Photographer notations stamped on verso. BRBL Construction Beinecke Library 35 Beinecke Construction still image The use of this image may be subject to the copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) or to site license or other rights management terms and conditions. The person using the image is liable for any infringement. Stoller, Ezra [Photograph of sculpture courtyard at the Beinecke] 1 photographic print image/tiff Finished building Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library Construction Photographs May 1961-Sept. 1963 New Haven, Connecticut Undated Skidmore, Owings & Merrill Blakeslee Company (Hamden, Conn.) Bunshaft, Gordon, 1909-1990 Yale University--Buildings--Pictorial works Architecture Building --Design and construction New Haven (Conn.)--Buildings, structures, etc.--Pictorial works http://brbl-dl.library.yale.edu/legacyhandler.php?fld=bib&id=2037717 http://brbl-media.library.yale.edu/imagehandler.php?size=thumb&object_id=2037717 http://brbl-media.library.yale.edu/imagehandler.php?size=quarter&object_id=2037717


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It's a bit ironic that Men in Black 3 star, Will Smith, was recently quoted as saying, "I don't want to be the sequel guy," especially when there are a number of potential franchise sequels with him in the works. Including a possible Men in Black 4, there are also Independence Day 2, Hancock 2, Bad Boys 3, I, Robot 2 and, of course, I Am Legend 2. While some of you may be confused by Smith's possible return in that last one, I'll point you to the alternate ending of the original 2007 blockbuster. Hit the jump for a few snippets on sequel work from Smith and an anecdote about why he passed up the title role in Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained.
While I wasn't a fan of the 2007 sci-fi flick I Am Legend (being more a fan of the source story), I can understand the studio appeal of a sequel. We recently reported that I Am Legend 2 screenwriter, Arash Amel, was making progress on the script before moving on to another project. Smith was also reported to be a producer on I Am Legend 2 in that post, however, as Smith says to BBC News (via Eurweb):
"Producers are working on it. I'm not actually working on it. If it's great, I'm into it."
When asked if he'd reconsider, Smith confessed:
"Probably not."
He went on to talk about the aforementioned sequels, saying:
"I don't want to be the sequel guy. I figure I've got about six or seven more years where I can run and jump a little bit and then I'm going butt and gut for the rest of my career. Butt and gut."
However, Smith noted that if fans drummed up a groundswell of support for Men in Black 4, he'd consider the project.
In an unrelated article over at Empire (via The Playlist),Smith talked about turning down the role of the freed slave in Tarantino's upcoming Django Unchained, and it may not have been for the reasons we all thought (like keeping his squeaky-clean, box office-friendly image):
"I came really close, it was one of the most amazing screenplays I had ever ever seen. I was in the middle of 'Men In Black 3' and [Tarantino] was ready to go, and I just couldn't sit with him and get through the issues, so I didn't want to hold him up. That thing's going to be ridiculous. It is a genius screenplay."
This is how star Jamie Foxx described it:
"When this movie's done, there's gonna be some hot button issues but, given my background, I think I'll be able to get some points across. The one thing that stuck out to me in the script was that Django was married. Back then, to be married was taboo. This is a love story. He's not trying to stop slavery. He's not trying to do anything but find the love of his life – which is like trying to find a needle in a world of haystacks."
As for whether or not Smith is done with sequels, we'll have to wait and see how his new project, After Earth, with director M. Night Shyamalan works out.


text:
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"This was a great carry over from last night," said head coach Lindsey Devine. "When this team buys into the game plan and puts it all out on the court we are very good. I think we started strong and really thrived on the emotions from it being senior day. We showed a lot of heart, and if we put everything out on the court and have no regrets then we feel like we will come away with a good result."
Amanda Youell (
Junior Alysa Long (
"I thought that Kristan Provchy (
The Dolphins jumped out to a 9-4 lead in the second set, but the Buccaneers battled back to cut the
In the third set, ETSU came out playing determined as they got out to a quick 7-3 lead. The Dolphins looked to rally, but the Bucs played tough getting out to an eight point lead at 22-14. The Buccaneers won the set on a Dolphin attack error as they took a 2-1 lead in the match. Dyck led the way for the Bucs with six kills in the set.
After ETSU got out to a 4-1 lead in the fourth set, Jacksonville went on to win seven-straight points to take a 8-4 lead. The Bucs cut the Dolphin lead to one point at 15-14, but Jacksonville held on to win the set 25-20 tying the match at 2-all.
Play was tight early in the final set. With the score tied 4-4, the Bucs went on 6-2 run to go out in front 10-6. ETSU went on to win the match on a Cogburn kill, 15-11.
The Bucs (11-16, 9-9 A-Sun) are back in action on Friday at 7 p.m. as they head to


text:
Good Afternoon:
Or, my first foray into food porn.
Vonn Scott Bair
Good Afternoon:
Or, my first foray into food porn.
Vonn Scott Bair
Good photos for this challenge of "change." I'm sure it was mighty good to eat too.
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